Here Kitty, Kitty
by Lyndymui
Summary: Minerva takes a chance and ends up in a wee bit of a situation ...
1. Chapter 1

It was raining heavily as the small hooded figure ran into the dark alleyway breathing hard. Her eyes darted from side to side looking for a way to escape; at the same time listening for signs that her pursuers were getting closer.

Capture held no fear for her, but what would happen to the children? to Albus? and Severus? She shook her had sadly as tears tarted to run down her face. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time. Spur of the moment. She saw an opportunity and took it.

Trouble with opportunism, though, is there is no carefully thought out escape plan; which was why she now running in a blind panic.

Into a dead end alley way.

With no escape.

"Here Kitty, Kitty" the taunting voice grew closer ...

"Kitty" she thought "of course ..."

Groaning to herself for not thinking of it sooner, she began to relax and tied the small bottle she had held tightly in her hand to a piece of ribbon she then looped round her neck.

"Please ... " she whispered frantically as the shift began "... someone ... somewhere ... help me ..."

The smug look on the death eaters' face was replaced by a confused frown as he peered into the dark corners looking for his prey.

He knew the bitch would transform into her cat form, that was why he had conjured a net. She ran into this alleyway so where the hell was she ... and why was there a dry patch of ground with steam rising from it ... and never mind that ... how was he going to tell Voldemort that Minerva McGonagall had escaped?

And taken the potion with her ...

... To be continued ...

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I should add a disclaimer cos I'm not clever enough to have thought up the worlds and characters of Buffy and Harry Potter, who belong entirely to their creators and authors.


	2. Chapter 2

"At least it's stopped raining" she thought as she woke up. She felt heat on her body ... warm ... sunny heat.

Warm sunny heat? in the middle of Scotland? in winter? opening one eye carefully she looked around her. She was in a park or something? And yes it was warm. And sunny.

Suddenly wondering what passers by would make of a woman lying sleeping in the middle of a park she started to stand up and was surprised to find that she was still in cat form. Apart from an overwhelming desire to lick her stomach she appeared to be uninjured.

"Here Kitty, Kitty" a young child bent down in front of her calling to her ...

Memories of the night before came rushing back and, startled, she ran into the bushes. Crouching down she thought hard ... was it only last night? If it was warm then how much time had passed? Wait a minute ...there was no ground like this near Hogwarts!

Panicking she realized that she was unable to change back to her human form, something was blocking her magic. Definitely not near Hogwarts then. But where was she and how could she get home? She would somehow have to find someone she could trust and get a message to Albus, though in her present form she doubted she could get an owl to come near her much less be able to write a message.

Licking a paw, and trying to ignore the terrified mouse in front of her, she sniffed, and finding no menace or danger in the air, set off to find someone who could help,


	3. Chapter 3

Leaving the relative safety of the bushes Minerva ventured out into the open space of the parkland. Looking around her she could see groups of children playing and other groups of people doing normal people things. Again, no obvious dangers or traps.

She still couldn't understand why she couldn't change back to her human form, and although she detected no danger in the air, there was an undercurrent that she couldn't quite put her finger (err paw?) on.

Shaking herself out of her thoughts she decided to avoid open places having narrowly been missed by a Frisbee (though with no knowledge of muggle social activities could not understand why a large plastic saucer had been thrown at her in the first place).

Going back to the tree line she lay down to watch the groups in front of her trying to decide who to approach "I'll worry later about how to communicate" she thought.

She woke with a start.

Annoyed at having fallen asleep in the first place, she tried to figure out what had woken her. There was still no obvious sense of danger, but something had the hairs on her neck standing on edge. She reached up to scratch and caught her claws in the velvet ribbon she had tied round her neck when fleeing the death eaters. Gasping she realized that the potion had come with her and she was wearing it like a charm on a collar.

Moving back into the shadows of the undergrowth she looked around her. Was that why she woke? Had someone recognized the potion bottle? Had they tried to take it from her? She couldn't lose it now - so much depended on it - she had to get back she just had to.

Crawling out of the bushes she approached a group of 3 people sitting on a blanket near her hiding place. As she got closer she realised what had woken her. She might not be able to practice magic, but she could still sense it and it rolled off the group in front of her in waves.

Maybe the panic over the potion bottle had removed her common sense, or maybe it was the piece of chicken lying beside the picnic basket. Whatever it was she found herself looking between the 3 people in the group trying her best "I'm a cat in distress and I need your assistance" look, accompanied by what she hoped was a desperate sounding meow.

A young woman with red hair, picked up a piece of chicken and broke a bit off, offering it to her "Here Kitty Kitty"

The young dark haired man sitting beside her said "That sounds and looks like a cat in need of our assistance"

The blonde girl grinned and said "You may have seen Dr Doolittle 3 times Xander but that does not qualify you for cat speak .. " ... she looked confused for a moment .. "does it?" She turned to the red head for clarification in time to see the other girl reaching for the cat.

She gently picked Minerva up, looking at her closely "She's not a stray 'cos she looks too well fed and groomed" she told the others "ooh wait a minute ..." she held the cat higher in the air and checked her over "Yup ... definitely a she".

If Minerva could have blushed ...  



	4. Chapter 4

How do you know she's not a stray?" the blonde asked the redhead, finally having stopped laughing at Xander.

"Well ... she's just too well feed and groomed" the other girl replied looking at the cat again who was eyeing the piece of chicken with more than a bit of hunger. She absently broke bits off the chicken and left it on the ground. The cat looked at her gratefully as she started to eat.

"Gratefully?" Willow shook her head. Now she was starting to think like Xander.

"I can't see any identification and she doesn't have a collar, just a bit of ribbon with some sort of tiny bottle charm thing hanging from it." As Xander reached for the collar to check again the cat hissed and backed away from him.

"OK, that will be no touching of the collar then" he said putting his hands in the air.

Minerva stopped in mid stride and turned to look at the blonde girl. She had been concentrating on the boy but something the blonde had said stopped her in her tracks.

Vampires?

Patrol?

What sort of strange place was this?

From their accents and her brief meetings with some covens, she guessed she was in America, but how she got there and what it meant for getting back she had no idea. She decided to stay with the red head as she seemed to have magical signatures that were missing from the boy, though he still looked at her strangely, almost like he understood what she was saying ... or miaowing.

Patrol what though?

The red head (Willow was it?) was clearing the rubbish away from the picnic.

"It's now or never" Minerva thought and taking a deep breath jumped into the picnic basket.

"Hey Wills," Xander called, "looks like you got a familiar!"

Willow turned to see the cat poking its head out of the flap in the picnic basket. There was a look on it's face that seemed to say please take me home with you.

"Ya know Xander" she mused, "I kinda agree that there is something different about that cat, I think I can almost read her expressions. I'll take her to Giles and see if there's anything in the texts about cat demons ..." the look on the cat's face stopped her speaking further " ... or maybe not cat demons" she added " ... nice things that look like cats instead?" The cat seemed to be more satisfied with this response.

Picking the basket up, she said bye to Buffy and Xander and promised to be ready for ten that night. Heading towards the library she started talking to the cat.

"Are you my familiar? I Mean I know witches and cats go together but that's black cats isn't it and you're not black but kinda grey and stripy and cute ... not black and menacing ... and you're not a demon are you?" Stopping she held the basket in front of her and peered at the cat.

Minerva gave what she hoped was her best "No! I most certainly am not a demon" look and was satisfied to see the girl look startled.

"I think you understand every word I say" she mused and changing direction headed towards what looked like modern school building.

Minerva settled down into the basket. She had no idea how long this would take and what this Giles person would know or be able to do. But she fell asleep satisfied that she had made contact with someone who would try to help her ... faintly the back of her mind registered that the girl had mentioned witches and familiars .. but the chicken was soo tasty ... and the sun sooo warm ... just a wee cat nap ...

Waking up she found herself looking at an older man with glasses who kept pushing them up his nose "Most unusual" he muttered.

When Willow first arrived with tales of Demon, or not Demon, cats he was skeptical, but looking into the eyes of this animal he sensed something that was almost human with an intelligence and wisdom he failed to see in the faces of many of his students never mind a cat.

Minerva, for her part, found herself staring into a pair of intelligent and compassionate brown eyes. She sighed with relief. What ever he thought she was she knew it wasn't a demon.

"Giles? What you think?" Willow queried nervously. Giles and the cat had been staring at each other for a few minutes now and neither of them showed signs of stopping.

"Hmm what?" Giles broke eye contact and looked at Willow. "Yes, well, she's not a demon. As for what she is, I don't know. She's not dangerous I don't think, but might be in danger though from what or whom I cant say"

"So what we do now," Willow asked.

"I'll do some research" Giles replied "and, as our visitor seems to have singled you out, perhaps you should take her home and see if she manifests any behaviors that may help us identify her"

Later that night, Willow decided to get changed while waiting for Buffy and Xander. The cat had followed her round the house from room to room as Willow showed her where she could sleep and where not to scratch and where to ….. Well Minerva suffered her second humiliation of the day as the girl explained she would have to go outside to "poopy" as she put it "cos poopy under the furniture would not be of the good"

Willow watched in fascination, as the cat seemed to cringe with embarrassment then wandered into her bedroom. As Willow began to change for her shower, she had to bite back a grin as the cat quickly turned her head to avoid watching her undress.

"Ya know," she said, ruffling the cat's fur "you are just the cutest thing". A thought occurred to her and she quickly moved her hand "I guess maybe if your not a cat then rubbing and tickling you might not be appropriate?"

Minerva rolled her eyes,"Cute? Me? Well maybe..." she preened and wandered downstairs to wait for Willow.

It was dark now as she sat in the living room staring at a box in the corner that was making pictures move. She thought Willow called it a television. Fascinating she thought ... but her mood changed as she thought of Severus, and she sobbed slightly as she remembered the helplessness she had felt, the despair…..

She didn't hear the voice behind her calling "Here Kitty Kitty" but suddenly a pair of cold strong hands grabbed her from behind and carrying her out of the room at arms length stuffed her into a pillowcase.


	5. Chapter 5

Remus Lupin looked at his old friend with concern. Albus had always looked healthy and cheery to him. Now he looked tired, worn down - hell they all were, but Albus was taking it harder - to him it was personal.

"Tell me again what she said. Do you trust her?" His voice breaking with emotion, Albus looked to Remus for answers.

"Do I trust her? No. She's confused, nervous and wracked with guilt. None more so than because she has betrayed Lucius. No, I don't trust her, but I do trust the information she has given us"

Remus rubbed a hand over his eyes. Narcissa had wanted to meet him, and gave him the information almost grudgingly. He still didn't understand why.

"Two days ago Lucius came home in a foul mood. Three of his friends he had recommended for a job had been killed by Voldemort. They had arranged a meeting at the Leaky Cauldron - they were to exchange something for a potion from the far east. When they left, they couldn't find the bottle and one of them remembered a small hooded figure sitting at the table beside them ..."

Albus interrupted, "I shouldn't have let her go ..."

"How could you have stopped her" Remus asked gently "Locked her in her room? Given her a sleeping potion? We didn't know anything was going to happen, hell we still don't know what DID happen, but i do know they didn't catch her. Narcissa said when they got to the alley it was empty - she had just disappeared".

"Whatever happened Minerva is alive and out there somewhere trying to get back to us. We don't know what this potion is ... but ..." he let his thoughts trail off.

Albus raised his head a slight twinkle in his eye as he thought of Minerva, so prim, so proper, picking the pocket of a death eater.

The twinkle died as the figure in the bed whimpered in pain. It had been two days since Severus was returned to them, beaten, tortured, and whipped to within an inch of his life. Two days since Minerva had left for a walk "...and a stiff bloody drink..." after finding his bloodied and broken body in her rooms. Two days since she had disappeared.

Since Voldemort discovered Severus was a spy he had taken great pleasure in calling him then returning him to the school beaten to within an inch of his life, only to call him again once he had healed. Morale at the school was lower than it ever had been. They couldn't stop it, the dark mark was too strong to block. For once it seemed like the Dark Lord was winning and they were powerless to do anything.

But now? Yes, he would have hope, Minerva had discovered something that might help them. Surely he would have sensed if she was dead.

Standing he moved to the window and opened it letting a gentle breeze into the hospital room. "Here Kitty Kitty ..." he called softly into the night.


	6. Chapter 6

Willow and Xander leaned against a gravestone watching Buffy dispatch the latest vampire threat back into the grave. Permanently this time.

"Oh Xander, I don't know. I don't think I left the kitchen door open. May be she decided she didn't like me anymore, or ..." Willow was worried. She was responsible for the cat, besides she was growing attached to it. Maybe it was her familiar.

Xander doubted that the cat would just have wandered off … he still thought he could read her mind and was pleased when Willow told him that Giles had thought she was special too.

Willow turned to Buffy, "Hey Buff you need me or can I head back to look for the cat and see if Giles has come up with anything?"

"No that's OK just gonna head home myself. Anything to avoid Spike's, he said he was going to get Clem and some of the boys from Willie's round for a few games of Poker".

"That's nice" Willow replied, then in slow motion the word POKER printed itself on the inside of her brain. "Poker?" she squeaked "as in cards and whiskey and ….. "

Pushing Xander out of her way she started running in the direction of Spike's crypt muttering under her breath about cat burglars and catnapping and the catastrophe that was going to happen to Spike to leave him catatonic.

Buffy looked at Xander who shrugged his shoulders and wandered after Willow. He might not like Spike but if he DID have the cat, well he wanted to be there.

Having a quick look round the cemetery, Buffy followed her two friends. She might not know what was going on, but as long as it didn't involve an apocalypse she was quite happy with a change to the routine.

Clem looked suspiciously at the wriggling hissing bundle Spike was attempting to put on the card table. The kittens had scattered in all directions and he was trying to round them up but the wriggly little critters were having none of it. The new cat must have been sending out bad Karma vibes or something cos the kitties were spooked.

"What have you done Spike?" he asked nervously.

The blonde vampire shifted guiltily from one foot to the other. "Found it at Willow's watching the TV". He was using both hands to hold the pillowcase closed as the bundle continued to thrash about.

Clem gulped "You stole Willow's cat?" He backed away from Spike "Willow, the witch, your friend, you stole her cat?" With each word is voice increased in volume and his ears twitched frantically against his head.

"Yeah well it seemed like a good idea at the time. You know how hard it is to get a nice bit of pussy these days? Ow! Bloody hell" Spike dropped the bundle and held his finger to his mouth. Minerva had managed to cut through the material with her claws and scratched her assailant. She dropped to the middle of the table looking around her, her back arched, hissing.

"You will not get this potion," she screamed, though to the occupants of the room it sounded more like a really loud meow. Jumping off the table she pounced under a chair, scaring the two black and white kittens already hiding there.

"What's with all the cats" she thought "is this some sort of cat fetishists lair?" As her panic subsided she looked at her kidnapper and his accomplice.

Although she could take the form of a cat she didn't understand their language and all the meowing was starting to get on her nerves. How was a cat to think straight with all this noise?

She turned her attention back to the two men. "Men?" she queried, "I've been kidnapped by a strange beastie and a ….." she paused " …. a vampire?"

Suddenly she realized that they weren't after the potion, probably didn't know anything about it, or what she was. She had just been a cat in the wrong place at the wrong time. For the second time that day she wondered about where she was.

Without warning, the door of the crypt blew apart and landed inside the room. Minerva looked on with interest as Willow stormed into the room and stood glaring at the vampire hands on hips.

"One reason" she screamed, "why I should not drag you outside and tie you to a tree while waiting for the sun to rise?"

Xander, who had arrived just after Willow, quickly jumped to the side as a stampede of kittens made their break for freedom along with one Clem who smiled nervously as he shuffled past Buffy.

"It was just a joke love," the vampire pleaded, grinning nervously.

"A joke? That cat is under my protection! That cat is not a cat!" Willow continued to scream. "We turned a blind eye to your sick poker games, but no more mister do you hear me? You are banned from even looking at cats and don't think we won't be watching for the start of puppy poker, mouse poker or even flea poker!"

Spike by now just wanted the night to end, and sit quietly with a bottle of scotch, glowered at the cat hiding under the chair.

"You" he said in a quiet voice, "get your fuzzy arse out from under that chair and get the hell out of my crypt."

"Well …" thought Minerva, "at least it's a change from "Here Kitty Kitty. I am so sick of hearing that phrase."

Jumping into Willows arms she turned to look at Spike.

"Did that cat just stick her tongue out at me?" he wondered.


	7. Chapter 7

Narcissa checked the scroll she held in her hand, mentally checking items off the list.

Most of the furniture had been repaired and the curtains re-hung. There were still a few silver goblets embedded in the ceiling and some of the house elves might need replaced. She frowned, thinking that she might have to arrange counseling for them as, for the last two mornings, they had given her toast with strawberry jam when they all knew she only took toast with raspberry jam.

Smiling at her reflection in the repaired mirror, she was proud of herself.

She had taken control of her life again and taken revenge against her husband, even if he would never know. And if he destroyed her house again ... well she might just have to arrange another meeting with Remus Lupin.

She thought back to two nights ago when she found her husband rifling through her drawers, looking for a small bottle, or box. She had given him a bottle that had previously been used for vanishing cream. Based on a muggle cosmetic for reducing wrinkles, it had never worked. She thought she would use a glamour next time.

Of course she had made Lucius tell her what was going on, and had tried not to laugh at the ludicrous plan. To meet in public was bad enough, but to make the exchange in a pub, well that was just foolish.

She shuddered as she thought of Yeti hair. The last of the creatures, elusive to both magical and muggle worlds, had died, and its' body parts were now scattered to the four corners of the world filling various potions and charms.

Voldemort didn't want to use the hair. He just wanted to make sure no one else got their hands on it. If the Ministry, or Dumbledore, found out that it could ..

A loud crash and scream interrupted her thoughts and a terrified house elf ran past her, chased by a small (pure bred of course) Persian kitten.

Sighing, and worried for the survival of the latest repairs, she conjured a bowl of caviar, and ran from the room, screeching, "Come here you mangy little flea bag ..."

Neither the house elf or the cat were quite sure who she was shouting at ..


	8. Chapter 8

Giles looked at the group sat in front of him and cleared his throat. "The cat," he announced, "is from a secret magical community in Scotland."

If he had said the planet was square, Buffy, Xander and Willow couldn't have been more surprised.

Minerva was stunned.

The cat stared at Giles with a look he hoped was of awe and wonder and not "you have found out my secret now I must kill you".

"Where in the books did you find that?" Willow queried, when she found her voice.

Giles took of his glasses and polished them carefully. He had a faraway, dreamy expression on his face. Minerva, growing impatient, and wanting to know the answer, walked across the table and gently butted him on the arm with her head.

"Yes, well," he smirked "it's not in the books. You see, the cat meows with a Scottish accent."

He didn't think the groups' jaws could drop any further and this time the cat's expression seemed to mirror that of the teenagers.

"Sorry" he grinned apologetically, "I've been reading this study that suggests that dogs bark with regional accents. There is no reason to believe that wouldn't apply to cats as well. But no, it's not the meow. It's the bottle round her neck."

While Willow and Xander glowered at Giles for making a joke, Buffy snatched the newspaper and was giggling at the article which suggested that dogs in Britain had regional barks and might not understand dogs from Europe and other parts of the world.

"Many years ago" Giles continued, "when I was studying at Oxford, a group of us took the train to Scotland and spent a couple of nights in Edinburgh. To cut a long story short," he sighed, "I got lost one day, and found the most amazing shop on the High Street, in the shadow of the castle. It was filled with wonderful things, old books, magic texts and …." he pointed at Minerva " …bottles like that"

"The owner was a strange old man and seemed surprised that I was in his shop. When I mentioned the bottles he became uncomfortable. There were hundreds of them, all different sizes and colors. But the were all the same style and made from the same type of glass. When sunlight caught them they seemed alive, just like that."

He pointed again to Minerva, who was now sitting in a pool of sunlight, the bottle round her neck shimmering and glowing against her fur.

"The shop owner said they were for pharmacy students to store medical potions. But he was nervous and asked me to leave saying it was time for him to close. Not long after that I began hearing rumours of a secret magical society that had cut itself off from our world, but which still co-existed alongside ours. I never could find that shop again and I never could find any proof. Anytime I got near an answer it seemed to slip through my fingers, I gave up looking and forgot about it."

But now" he said getting excited "the proof is here. Something happened to this cat to make her leap between the two worlds, not to mention a couple of continents …"

He stopped and looked at Minerva who was pacing excitedly along the table, stopping every so often to wave a paw in the air. Willow thought she looked like she was dancing.

"Och," Minerva thought, "you are a wonderful man. What do we do now?"

"So, what do we do now?" Xander asked.

"Now," Giles said looking deflated, "we have to find a way to get her home. We have no way of knowing what prolonged exposure to the hellmouth might do to her, not to mention falling into the wrong hands again. I hesitate to use the word benevolent when describing Spike, but the next time we might not be so lucky."

A dark mood descended on the group and Minerva leaned closer to Willow looking for comfort. She had no idea how much time had passed since she had left and had no way of knowing what was happening at home. The euphoria she felt at Giles' announcement was short lived. Was Severus alive? Had the Dark Lord launched any attacks? Was anyone left alive? She meowed pitifully burying her head against Willows' arm and wondered what a hellmouth was?

Xander wondered if you could just put the cat on a boat or something ...

Willow worried that they might be sending the cat back to danger and how could they find out more information ...

Buffy wondered if goldfish had regional accents ..

/

 **Note:** The concept of animals having regional accents is not the product of my fevered imagination but the result of several scientific papers over the last few years so I am in no way claiming it to be an idea of mine.


	9. Chapter 9

To say Minerva was frustrated was an understatement.

As she lay in front of the fire, her head resting on folded paws, she wondered why things had gone so wrong.

Willow and Xander both seemed intelligent people; she wasn't too sure about Buffy though who had been twittering on about something called Mr Pointy.

They were willing to accept that she was magical, so why couldn't they accept that she might be trying to communicate with them?

Sighing, she rolled onto her back and thought about the events of the last few hours.

It had seemed so simple ... she would get Willow to understand her and then she could tell her how to contact Albus.

Her first attempt had resulted in Willow running from the kitchen with her hands over her ears.

OK, so cat paws were not designed for holding chalk, but it was an accident when it scraped down the board and made that horrible noise . she personally thought the girl had over-reacted.

The second attempt wasn't much better and ended with her being accused of being a demon garden wrecker. She had tried to write some words in the flowerbeds using her paws to scratch into the earth. But who would have thought that digging was so much fun ...

She shuddered when she thought of the mess the spaghetti had made of her fur. She wanted to take the wriggly food and use it to form words on the floor. Willow had been upset by that and thought she wasn't feeding her properly.

She had nearly been kicked out of the house and was given a stern lecture on keeping away from Willows' computer in future. Minerva thought that was a wonderful invention and, along with the television, wondered how many other muggle devices had actually been created by wizards.

Pen and paper wasn't much better. The pen had reminded her so much of her wand that she couldn't resist swooshing it through the air. This had delighted Willow who had clapped her hands excitedly and told her she was forgiven for the garden and the computer and for trying to shred one of her jumpers with her claws (that had also seemed like a good idea at the time - she thought she could have used the wool the same way as the spaghetti).

She nearly got into more trouble when she tipped a bag of Scrabble letters onto the floor. But both Xander and Willow thought she was bored and wanted attention so they packed away the game and scooped the letters off the floor just as she had managed to paw the letters A, L, B, U and S together. They then spent half an hour making her chase a plastic mouse.

Yes. she thought, they were intelligent. But how could they be so stupid?

"oooooh, pretty lights ... I must chase them ... I must chase them ..."


	10. Chapter 10

Bill Weasley sat in Dumbeldore's office and waited curiously.

He had been bemused as well as confused when his dad had asked him to go and see Albus Dumbledore about a delicate task he required assistance with.

The elegant woman who left the office just as he arrived had only added to his curiosity.

Dumbledore had apologised for the secrecy and the urgency and had inquired politely about his return from Egypt, though Bill sensed he was distracted and not fully paying attention to his reply.

He turned at a knock at the door and was surprised to see Remus Lupin enter. He shook hands with his former professor and noted that he seemed tired and strained.

As they both sat down, Bill realized that Dumbledore was staring at him. But it was Remus who spoke first.

"Did she have any information for us?" Remus asked, cutting straight to the point and avoiding small talk.

Dumbledore smiled and replied "Ghislaine has just left." He paused and turned his attention back to Bill.

"Bill, what you are about to hear may not be secret much longer. But these decisions are not ours to make. Even if you do not agree ..."

"Yes" Bill blurted out, then blushed as his former headmaster smiled at his enthusiasm.

"Ghislaine MacDonald is the high priestess of the most important coven in the world!" Dumbledore announced dramatically.

Bill was startled. Covens were just muggle playgroups weren't they?

Sensing his confusion and leaving Bill to compose himself, Dumbledore turned to Lupin. "They have located, and agreed to help us retrieve Minerva."

Bill was now really confused and scratched his head. Minerva McGonagall? He jumped as he realized that the headmaster was talking again.

"Covens guard the gateways between the muggle and magical worlds," he explained. "They do not interfere between us and ensure that, on the whole, we remain ignorant of each other."

"They have long since argued that we should think of integrating more. You can imagine the problems the Ministry have with that idea." Shaking his head he privately thought that Ghislaine was right. Magic and "evil" did not just exclusively exist in the magical world anymore. Muggles had been fighting and dealing with demons and other such horrors for centuries now. He thought a gradual exchange of information would benefit both worlds. The Ministry was missing a golden opportunity to inject new blood and ideas into their world. But that was an argument for another day.

He turned back to Bill, suddenly tired and rubbed his hand over his eyes before speaking again.

"Bill, we want you to go to California and bring Minerva home" he stated simply.

Bill's chest expanded with pride as he listened to Dumbledore and Lupin explain the events of the last few days: the latest attack on Severus, Minerva's disappearance, Narcissa's revelations ….

"Time is of the essence," Dumbledore continued. "we cannot take the time to use muggle transportation. You will need to apparate there and back."

Bill was shocked. No-one, absolutely no-one, had apparated that far before. But Dumbledore had one further surprise for him.

"The covens have agreed to help. They will sent up a "chain-link" from here to California allowing you to apparate over smaller distances. From here, Ghislaine will link to a coven in Iceland allowing you to make the first jump. From there to Greenland and then across Canada and down to California."

"When you reach the coven in California they will guide you to a Rupert Giles, a librarian from Sunnydale. We believe he may have Minerva, but the coven are aware of some of his activities and believe he is looking after her and is not a threat to us, or working for Voldemort."

He went on to explain that they had fitted the pieces of the puzzle together after a Rupert Giles had contacted the owner of a magic shop in Los Angeles and had asked careful questions about magical societies in Scotland, demon cats and potion bottles.

At the same time, a Willow Rosenberg had contacted a magic shop in San Francisco, asking the same questions. (Xander had called a freight shipping company in New York and Buffy had called Deep Sea World.)

The owners had not been able to answer them but had reported the telephone calls to their local coven leaders . This had been reported back to Ghislaine who had decided to approach Dumbledore direct. She had thought this could be the opportunity they were waiting for to bridge the gap between the two worlds.

When she learned about Minerva's disappearance, it had not been too hard to put two and two together.

Though neither understood how the witch had been able to transport herself that far they thought it may have had something to do with the mysterious potion Narcissa had mentioned.

Dumbledore was worried that she still appeared to be in cat form, but had been re-assured to learn that when the coven had checked she appeared to be healthy, but was surprised to learn that she had been digging frantically in a garden while being shouted at by a red haired woman.


	11. Chapter 11

It was starting to get dark as Bill raised his hand to the knock the door.

He could hear talking and laughter coming from behind the door and thought they sounded friendly. At least he didn't think that bad guys had time to relax and enjoy themselves, unless they were maybe torturing someone …. not a good thought to have when Minerva could be in there.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he knocked the door, and waited.

He smiled at the young man who answered and said "My name is Bill Weasley and …" he was stopped when the man raised his hand.

"Sorry, but whatever you're selling we either have it or don't want it." The door was closed in his face.

As the door closed he thought he heard a female voice scolding the man for being rude. Sighing and squaring his shoulders he knocked again.

A young woman with red-hair opened the door this time.

"Please …" Bill said, " … I am here about a lost cat."

The woman's eyes narrowed and she looked Bill over from head to toe. "Could you wait here please?" She inquired politely.

Bill knew the coven had brought him to the correct address when he heard her shout "Giles!" as the door was closed again.

A few seconds later the door opened and a young blonde woman appeared. "Could you say something again?"

Bill was confused, but repeated, "I am here about a lost cat."

As the door closed again he heard her say that she didn't think he was Scottish.

The door opened for a fourth time, and an older man, Bill presumed to be Rupert Giles, stood in the doorway. "How may we help you?"

"I'm here about a lost cat."

"Yes, we gathered that," the man replied. "However, what makes you think that we may be able to help you?"

Bill thought back to his carefully rehearsed speeches and wondered which one would be appropriate? Dumbledore had advised him to assess the situation and had authorized him to release limited information to the people holding Minerva. But he couldn't just blurt it all out.

The decision was taken from him when a blur of grey fur streaked out of the house and pounced at him. With quick reflexes he tightened his arms round the bundle and found his face being licked by an excited grey cat that was both purring and meowing at the same time.

Minerva thought she had recognized the voice at the door and had carefully crept round the furniture in the lounge trying not to be seen until she was sure.

Bill! It was Bill! Little Bill Weasley had come to rescue her. Well, she thought, she might not need rescuing but she did need help getting home. She was so excited she ran at him screaming his name over and over again.

It suddenly occurred to Bill that the cat in his arms was his former Transfiguration Professor, and Head of House, and that she was licking his face in a most inappropriate manner. He dropped the cat in horror, his face beetroot, "Professor McGonagall!" he exclaimed.

It appeared that the Professor had the same thought at the same time, and, with as much dignity as she could muster, she wandered back into the house, her head held high and her tail in the air.

She turned to make sure that her new friends had understood that Bill was here to help her and was pleased to see Willow and the others stepping back to allow Bill to enter the house.

"It would seem that our cat knows you…" Willow broke the uncomfortable silence thinking that they couldn't just sit here and stare at each other all night. She revised that thought thinking that they probably could, but Buffy would have to patrol in a couple of hours and there would doubtless be research to do. She wasn't going to give the cat to anyone without proof that she was doing the right thing.

Xander couldn't contain himself any longer "The cat is a professor?" He queried, laughing. "What does it teach? Catching mice? Chasing Birds?" He stopped making any more suggestions when Minerva shot him a withering look.

Bill sighed again. It was going to be a long night.


	12. Chapter 12

Bill's head was whirling with all the information it was trying to process. He was sure his eyes must look like saucers and he had the beginning of a headache.

Whatever Bill had expected to be told, this wasn't it. He knew about vampires of course, you found out about them in first year. But demons? And some of the other things these kids had faced had left him horrified. Kids? Hell they weren't much older than Ron and Ginny.

Willow and Giles had finally stopped talking and Minerva had stopped meowing. Xander had left for patrol with Buffy, promising to bring back pizzas when they returned.

Dumbledore was right, Bill thought. They must find a way to integrate their two worlds and wondered if the Watchers Council and the Ministry could work together.

Mr Giles had insisted that he wait to tell them his story until Buffy and Xander returned with food. They would not want to miss this, and Xander was particularly insistent on hearing about the cat that was a professor. Bill so wanted to see the look on the young mans' face when he found out that the cat he was so partial to tickling between the ears was actually a middle aged woman.

Minerva was still excited and paced round his legs. More than once Bill had accidentally stood on her tail, but she didn't mind. Giles' and Willows' story had enraptured her. So many parts of conversations she had overheard now made sense. She even knew what a hellmouth was now!

"Next time," she thought, "though heaven forbid there should be a next time, I'll try to land somewhere less "exotic"!"

She marveled at all they had experienced and was stunned to find out that the girl with the fish obsession was actually the vampire slayer. With all that stress and danger, she thought, no wonder she was a bit eccentric.

She hoped it was possible to keep in touch once she returned home. Although she had only been here a few days, she had grown fond of the group especially Willow and Giles. But she didn't want to admit that she (well her cat-self at least) quite like Xander tickling her between the ears.

As Giles helped Willow make tea, Minerva jumped into the seat beside Bill and looked him in the eye. Simple yes and no answers Bill thought, but first, he said "When I left, Professor Snape was recovering and had not been called again."

Minerva closed here eyes and thanked everybody she could think of that she might still have a chance to help.

"Are you well Professor?" Bill asked.

One blink in reply.

"Was that a yes?"

One blink again. He hoped one blink meant yes.

"Have you tried to revert back to your normal form?"

One blink.

"Did it work?"

Two blinks and a frustrated meow.

When Bill met the Sunnydale coven they had asked him to try some magic with his wand. They were disappointed to find that nothing happened and suspected that the effect of the Hellmouth was counterbalancing his magic. He thought this was also stopping Minerva from changing back to human form.

He realized that Willow was watching them from the kitchen.

"It's OK," she said, "we know there is something different about the cat and that she comes from some sort of magical world, but we never thought of asking her questions and she never seemed to be able to communicate with us."

Minerva shot the girl a look of disgust at that last comment.

Further questioning of the cat was stopped by the arrival of food, and for a while the group ate in companionable silence. As Minerva ate her piece of steak she chuckled to think that she had almost been on the menu at a demon poker game. The stories she would have to tell when she got home….

Bill realized that four pairs of eyes were looking at him expectantly and Minerva now sat stiffly beside him waiting for him to start. Taking a deep breath Bill began to speak

"I am the oldest of seven children" he started "and both my parents are wizards. When I was younger, I attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry". He placed a hand gently on the cats' back. "Professor McGonagall here, teaches Transfiguration at the school and is an animagus. An animagus is a human who can transform into an animal ….." he let his voice trail off.

Stunned silence greeted this announcement. Willow whimpered softly and Xander gulped.

"Three nights ago, the Professor escaped from a group of death eaters, followers of Lord Voldemort." Minerva shuddered. "Voldemort is, to put it simply, an evil wizard, who must be stopped. The school is one of the bases of resistance against him, though he still has followers at the school and some of the pupils are the children of death eaters, his main followers."

"We know the professor turned to her cat form while being chased by death eaters, and believe she has some very important information which may help us in the battle against Voldemort."

Bill explained some more about Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Harry Potter.

"I'm sorry, but I really must return home as quickly as possible and I must take Professor McGonagall with me".

Giles was stunned. He really wanted to know more but understood the desperation behind the young man's words. Maybe they could share information ... and think of the books they would have.

Willow was shocked. Wow! A whole world of wizards and witches, but more importantly she was loosing her cat. Ok not a cat, a cat-woman-cat.

Xander was horrified. He had been tickling a middle-aged witch. He stared at his hands as even now they made towards the cat's ears.

Buffy was bemused. There was more in this world than even she had thought possible, though, forgetting about regional accents, she wondered if it was possible to prove that the concept of good and evil existed in shrimp?


End file.
